November 13, 2003

China's Interest In Soymeal Lessened

Asia's soymeal trade is expecting Indian prices to ease further as suppliers give up hope that China will buy more of the feed ingredient after recent purchases from the South Asian supplier.

"We have not seen any fresh interest for soymeal from China," said one leading Singapore-based trader. "Anyway, China is buying a lot of soybeans. They probably don't need more soymeal."

China, which has been shipping out soymeal in the past two years, stepped in to buy about 150,000 tonnes of Indian soymeal in October, pushing Indian soymeal prices to more than $300 a tonne C&F Southeast Asia, compared with $230 a couple of months ago.

But this week, Indian prices have eased to around $285 a tonne C&F Southeast Asia, a level at which Indonesia has snapped up a few deals for January and February shipments.

"The price fall is a sign that China may not be interested in more soymeal, at least for now. But who knows -- when China is involved, there is always an element of surprise also involved," said another Singapore trader.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast on Wednesday that China would import a record 22 million tonnes of soybeans this year, boosting U.S. exports that have been moving at a break-neck pace the past two months.